Keeping up appearances

Friday

Jun 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2012 at 9:36 AM

Ah, summer evenings in the city: The smell of automotive paint drifting from illegal car-repair shops, the sound of hammers furtively pounding together fences no historical commission would approve and the blight of massive big-rigs stored on neighborhood driveways. Sneaks who skirt city code drive their honest neighbors nutty. But until now, Columbus couldn't do much.

Ah, summer evenings in the city: The smell of automotive paint drifting from illegal car-repair shops, the sound of hammers furtively pounding together fences no historical commission would approve and the blight of massive big-rigs stored on neighborhood driveways.

Sneaks who skirt city code drive their honest neighbors nutty. But until now, Columbus couldn’t do much. Inspectors can’t cite what they don’t see, and they’ve worked business hours. That’s changing soon, as the city launches a strategy to beef up evening and weekend patrols without straining a tight budget.

Credit goes to the city’s Development Department, a cooperative union and Columbus City Councilman Zachary M. Klein, who was bombarded with gripes from frustrated neighbors as he visited community groups. They’d take him on tours, pointing out scofflaws.

The problem, says lawyer Klein, is that this is a situation “capable of repetition, yet evading review.”

This is not only an issue of safety, but one of fairness, he points out. Residents who follow the rules — sometimes costly and often rigorous — are put at a disadvantage when others simply do as they please without gaining consent from architectural-review boards in historic neighborhoods. And to add salt to the wound, inappropriate or unattractive changes can lower surrounding property values.

By shifting hours — placing a four inspectors on duty in each quadrant of the city from noon to 9 p.m., and daytimes on Saturdays — the city can do a better job of enforcement. And the cost will be minimal: a 52-cent-per-hour bump in pay for the few inspectors working second shift.

Columbus Code Enforcement Administrator Dana Rose said he doesn’t think the number of violators is huge, but the schedule change will allow officers to check on complaints. Neighborhood groups told ThisWeek newspapers that this is a good move. It seems that an awful lot of unapproved work gets done in the dark or on weekends.

Code-enforcement officers have been thin on the ground recently. Columbus is still recovering from budget cuts. The staff this year is back to 45 officers, up from 34 a year ago. The fact that it now can fill evening slots signals a recovery.

The smart approach will allow Columbus to determine whether it needs even more code-enforcement officers to keep neighborhoods stable and attractive, or whether a shift in thinking — and hours — is sufficient.